So, we had our final boss fight with Acererak and the Atropal last week! My party was victorious in destroying the Soul Monger and killing the Atropal, but all of the characters but one died, the last one escaping through the portal and finding themselves back in Omu.

After running the campaign weekly for about a year, I loved it. It was so much fun. Big thank you to everyone on this sub, and to the collected resources online, for all the inspiration and tips!

I figured I would add my own experiences and wisdom in case it helps the next person who comes along!

The party:
Pretty classic composition of Paladin, Rogue, Cleric, Wizard, Barbarian. (Some classes changed with character deaths, but this overall comp stayed the same)

What worked really well:
-My players really got engaged with the jungle exploration, the set pieces, all the various NPCs and villains, and even the Tomb had them on a tightrope walk of caution versus risk that they had a lot of fun with.

-The path and locations they took in the jungle had a very spiritual/mystical theme, so I included dreams that were related to Ubtao as ways to give hints and lore. This also allowed more hag fun, as a flip side to the Ubtao dreams were Nightmares from the Hags, making them loom larger in the overall narrative.

-Establishing deadliness from the start and making big rolls in the open helped to put fear in the players hearts. A couple players had multiple character deaths, and I warned everyone to have backups ready to go, but I made sure no one felt left out. (I gave a prize for the best character death at the end)

-Rather than just the random encounter tables, I also had some clocks I kept track of for other factions to make moves or encounter the party. This worked especially well in Omu!

What didn’t work as well:
-I ran the intro as written, and I agree with the overall consensus that it’s weak. When I next run it, I will probably do a shipwreck intro and have the death curse hit a little later to allow more time in Port Nyanzaru. Putting the players in a rushed feeling right off the bat is not as good. That said, the death curse is a very good clock that forces the players to keep moving and take risks once it does hit.

Major highlights (according to my players):
Port Nyanzaru
-I ran a Yuan-Ti home invasion of the Merchant Prince manor they were staying in, and they all mentioned that was one of their favourite combats.
Chult
-Nangalore was a big hit
-Camp Righteous and Camp Vengance as a back-to-back pair worked really well
-Ataaz Muhahah was very fun (I had the monkeys be Su-Monsters)
Omu
-Shagambi’s Temple was a very tense fight they all loved.
-The King of Feathers scared the crap out of them everytime he showed up.
-They cooked up their own ambush for the Red Wizards and had a very tense combat.
The Tomb
-Room 67, the most Heavy Metal of rooms.
-All of floor 6, unlocking the skeleton door, was a very fun puzzle for all.
-Room 49 had everyone on edge.
-Room 52 was a favourite.
-Room 43 didn’t go off, but was creepy enough that they all mentioned it as a highlight at the end.

My big important takeaway:
After reading this adventure over and over, reading commentary about it, looking up the old adventures that inspired it, and now having run it with a group of players that all had very different levels of experience, there is one big thing to consider about this module.

Tomb of Annihilation is about LEGACY.

The legacy of Ubtao and what his presence in Chult meant then and what his absence means now.
The legacy of colonialism in a land under its own power again.
Ras Nsi and Artus Cimber are stuck in the past, a representation of the legacy of Mezro.
The Death Curse is a perversion of legacy, because your soul is supposed to move on and it is instead being used as fuel.
Even on a meta level, the whole adventure is about legacy, honouring a more old-school way of playing D&D.

So if you’re looking to run this adventure yourself, and you’re trying to find the big thematic hook to get characters into it: Legacy is that theme.

I’m happy to go into further details if people have any questions, and thanks again to all those in the sub who came before and shared their experiences. :)

The forces of the United Lord's Alliance Forces (ULAF) have pursued "Dirty Red", a Thayan necromancer, to Chult.

My party are Alpha Squad, an elite special forces group who will be tasked with preventing Dirty Red from raising an undead army in the Chultan jungles.

What movie references, batiri traps, etc should I include to give my players the full "Green Hell" experience in the jungle?

My party is currently at Wongo’s shrine and likely to encounter the kobolds at the red bazaar in our next session this weekend. I’m particularly excited for this because one of my PCs is a kobold sorcerer from Wyrmheart Mine that still carries the statue of Kurtulmak with her. I think this will be an opportunity for some great roleplay.
I’m interested to hear how other DMs played Kakarol and the other kobolds in Omu and how they would have them react to another kobold sorcerer. My first thought is that Kakarol would try to fend off anyone that could threaten his position, but the other kobolds might be likely to follow a new sorcerer if Kakarol is defeated. Let me know your ideas, thoughts, or how the kobolds were played in your game!